The previous public official accused of fatally stabbing Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German got the green light to represent himself at trial — however the presiding judge warned she wouldn’t allow him to “treat it as a game.”
Accused killer Robert Telles will try his luck with the legal system within the first-degree murder trial expected to begin later this 12 months.
Telles is accused of stabbing German, 69, to death outside the journalist’s home in September months after the ex-politician lost a primary to carry onto his elected seat.
Before the murder, German authored several articles that detailed the turmoil in Telles’ office.
While Telles is a lawyer, he’s never tried a criminal case before and mostly handled civil matters. His license was suspended after was arrested.
“You understand that if you happen to decide to represent yourself and also you don’t get a result that you just like, you may’t say on appeal ‘I used to be bad at representing myself?’” Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt asked Telles in court Tuesday.
“I understand that,” Telles replied.
“You’re facing life without the opportunity of parole,” the judge declared. “It is just not a game. I won’t help you treat it as a game.”
Telles was on his third hired lawyer before he was granted the prospect to rep himself. A stand-by lawyer may very well be appointed to his case.
“I wish him the most effective in representing himself,” his latest lawyer Damian Sheets said after the judge’s decision.
Telles’ push to represent himself comes after the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the previous Clark County public administrator had listed five rental properties on the market in Arkansas.
After buying the properties in 2019, Telles hopes to make a few $200,000 take advantage of their sale, the newspaper reported.
The selling price for the five Hot Springs properties is $519,000, in response to the true estate website.
It’s unclear why he’s attempting to offload the properties.
Telles has maintained he’s innocent, but has not publicly provided evidence to contradict the prosecutors’ case. He also didn’t explain where he was the day of the murder in an interview with the AP on Feb. 14.
He said he plans on testifying to the jury.
“And so, because I’m going to try this, I feel that’s something that can come out so far as what I used to be doing,” Telles said. “But immediately, I couldn’t answer that query.”
Prosecutors say Telles’ DNA was found underneath German’s fingernails and pieces of a straw hat the killer may be seen wearing in surveillance footage were present in Telles’ home.
He claims evidence collected was “planted.”
Shortly after Telles’ arrest, Las Vegas police alleged the murder suspect was upset to learn German was looking into further alleged misdeeds by the Democrat following the initial expose into his office that helped result in his election loss.
German worked for Vegas newspapers for 44 years and earned a popularity as a tenacious reporter who wrote about organized crime and government corruption.
With Post wires
